Introduction

The study of Byzantine architecture has been primarily devoted to religious architecture, as churches and related buildings constitute the most significant surviving remains. In the English language, there are only two major handbooks on the subject: Krautheimer (1986), which presents a more formal and typological approach to church construction, better for its coverage of the early centuries; and Mango (1976a), which favours a historical approach and is more useful for the later periods and for areas under Byzantine influence. Both are now several decades out of date but may be supplemented by recent monographs, regional surveys, and thematic studies. Kleinbauer’s annotated bibliography (1991) provides an accessible, thematic organization and includes an indispensable historiographic introduction. A recent assessment of the scholarship on Byzantine architecture is also provided by Mango (1991), who identifies four approaches prevalent in the twentieth century: typological, symbolic or ideological, functional, and social or economic; the trend in recent scholarship, he notes, is towards detailed and well-documented analyses of individual monuments. Mathews has made important steps in understanding the role of liturgy in church design (1962, 1971, 1982). More recently, Ousterhout attempts to interpret church architecture from the perspective of the builders (1999). Certainly much more work is necessary in terms of the basic documentation of churches, as well as regional surveys. Moreover, church architecture is often

Studied out of context, without consideration for either its setting or its interior decoration.